Both the iPhone 13 and the new iPad mini are equipped with Apple’s latest A15 Bionic chip, but benchmark results reveal that the chip is downclocked to 2.9GHz in the iPad mini, compared to 3.2GHz in all iPhone 13 models.
iPad mini’s A15 contains a 5-core graphics vs. the iPhone 13 lineup’s A15 with 4-core graphics.
As to be expected, the downclocked chip appears to have a small 2-8% impact on the iPad mini’s performance compared to iPhone 13 models. In early Geekbench 5 results, the new iPad mini has average single-core and multi-core scores of around 1,595 and 4,540, compared to averages of around 1,730 and 4,660 for the iPhone 13 Pro.
It’s unclear why Apple has downclocked the A15 chip in the iPad mini, but most users are unlikely to encounter any issues with performance using the device. Even with a downclocked A15 chip, the new iPad mini is up to 40% faster in single-core performance and up to 70% faster in multi-core performance compared to the previous-generation iPad mini with an A12 chip, according to benchmarks.
MacDailyNews Take: This is the beauty of controlling the whole widget, the SoC can be tuned for the product. The A15 is likely slightly downclocked to accommodate the 5-core graphics (vs. the 4-core graphics in the iPhone 13 lineup) while maintaining strong battery life (smaller battery area in the iPad mini vs. larger iPads, obviously).
With 5G and a web-based phone service, iPad mini (with cellular) is a really big iPhone. Aren’t there some low-cost data plans for iPad?
One man’s downclocked is another man’s crippled.
Apple-neutered, so it doesn’t take away too much sunshine from the iPhones. The iPad Mini could replace the iPhone for many people if it weren’t hobbled.
That would only make sense if Apple was telling people about the slower chip. Almost no one who buys this will know that it is ever so slightly slower (or maybe faster) then the other device.